An Alternate kind of Reality
by frontally
Summary: It's not exactly the way she expected her fresh start to work out, but hey, since when was Rachel Berry a quitter?Eventual Faberry, Brittana.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: It's been a while since I've actually seriously got my write on. Glee and related characters don't belong to me. This story is AU, Rachel is athletic and Quinn is secretly a giant nerd.**

**Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear what you think.**

**My other story, _Snapshots_ contains ficlets from this 'verse.**

Rachel Berry squared her shoulders, settled her messenger bag firmly over one shoulder and took a deep breath. It was her first dayat McKinley High and she stared at the red doors with a growing sense of dread. Maybe it wasn't too late to turn around and go sit in her car until the school day was over. Yeah, maybe she could start tomorrow. Tuesday was certainly a more lucky day than Monday, wasn't it?

The small brunette snorted and ran a hand through her hair. Who was she kidding? The sooner she got into the school and got started, she sooner she could settle into routine and get on with the rest of her high school life, and move on to bigger and better things.

With a deep breath, she pushed the red doors open and was met with a frosty welcome.

"Welcome to McKinley, new kid! High five, bro!"

She heard the mad cackling of adolescents mocking her as she tried to wipe the chunks of slush and corn syrup from her eyes. The bell rang as she stood there, chest heaving and fists clenched.

"You must be new here," a soft voice said from somewhere off to her side. Rachel smeared the mess out of her eyes with the heel of her hand and looked at the blonde girl who was speaking to her. The red cheerleading outfit contrasted sharply with the girl's pale skin, and Rachel couldn't help but appreciate the bold contrast.

"Yeah, first day. I just transferred," Rachel said, "is this how transfers are always treated at your school?" She gestured to the puddle around her feet, "because it kinda sucks."

Quinn smiled softly and shook her head, "the football team is just running off a high. They won their first game in forever and now they're acting like jerks. I don't suppose you have a spare change of clothes in your bag?"

"Uh, yeah kinda. I have my gym clothes," Rachel said with a sigh. "I can just put my gym shirt on with my jeans, I don't think I got any of this crap in them. Do you think you can point me to a bathroom or something?" the brunette asked, "because I think this stuff is starting to dry and it's a little gross." She licked her lips, "even if grape is possibly the best flavor known to man."

"You're mad," Quinn said giving Rachel a sideways look with her eyes narrowed, and Rachel couldn't help but feel vaguely offended. "Cherry is the best flavor, hands down. And, follow me. You can use the Cheerio's locker room and shower if you want. There's nobody in there at this time of the morning. Besides," she shrugged, "being head cheerleader has to come with some perks, right? I'm Quinn Fabray, by the way. It's nice to meet you."

Rachel gaped at the blonde. "Uh, Rachel.. Berry."

"Come on, Rachel Berry," Quinn said with a smile. "Follow me. We'll have you cleaned up in time for second period."

"Oh shit," the brunette moaned, "I was supposed to meet with the principal before first period."

"Figgins can wait," Quinn shrugged. "And if I didn't know better I'd say you enjoyed standing there covered in slush and corn syrup."

"Well.." Rachel said a small smirk on her face, "it is grape.."

The blonde Cheerio laughed out loud at that one, and Rachel couldn't help but marvel at how her hazel eyes lit up. "Let's go get you cleaned up, then we can debate the better slushie flavor."

"No arguments here."

* * *

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The girls parted ways after Quinn explained to Rachel the easiest way to get corn syrup out of hair and clothes, and Rachel was left to make her way to Principal Figgins' office and the rest of her classes alone.

"Miss Berry, it seems you are late." Rachel couldn't help but stare incredulously at the indian man seated behind the desk. "It seems that I may have to remind you that here at William Mckinley High School we do not tolerate deviants!" he punctuated the last four words of his sentence with slaps on the top of his desk.

"I am not a deviant!" Rachel couldn't help but exclaim, irate. "I was waylaid on my way to see you by miscreants who thought it would be _funny_ to dump a slushie on my head!"

"Now, now," Figgins spoke, in what he must have presumed to be a soothing tone but only further incensed the tiny brunette sitting in front of him, "boys will be boys."

Rachel could only stare at him with her mouth hanging open until he prodded her out of his office and she was left standing in the middle of the hall.

"Welcome to McKinley, indeed." she grumbled as she stalked down the hall in search of her next class.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Wow! I'm seriously overwhelmed by the response for this! Thank you so much for your follows and reviews, and a special shoutout for my readers from NZ. I SEE YOU THERE. All two of you. **

**I hope you enjoy this part as much as you did the first! Please leave me a review if you enjoy it, and let me know if there's anything you'd like to see, or any ideas you have. I don't really have a solid gameplan here. **

After a day of introducing herself to classes, teachers and fellow students Rachel was exhausted. Other than the slushie throwing incident of the morning, she had escaped relatively unscathed. Sure, she'd been elbowed a few times in the hallway, and there was that creepy guy who wouldn't stop staring at her and whimpering, which was beyond creepy but for the most part she considered her first day at McKinley High a success.

Hey, she'd even made a friend. A _cheerleader_ friend. Back at her old school, the cheerleaders hadn't even mingled with the general population let alone talked to them. And if she'd done her research right, McKinley High's Cheerios were National champions which gave them more of a reason not to be nice. And yet, Quinn had been nice to her.

Rachel couldn't help but feel oddly proud as she walked towards the field. She'd told the blonde cheerleader she'd meet her out there after Quinn had finished with Glee club, so Rachel intended to make the most of her time as she waited. Dropping her bag at the end of the bleachers she shimmied out of her jeans, leaving her in yoga pants and her gym t-shirt which had been doubling as her real tshirt since she had been slushied. Crouching down, she reached into her bag and pulled out her iPod. It was pink and bedazzled and she couldn't help but crack a smile and run her fingers over the jewels, remembering when she'd done it. Her Daddy had been scandalized that she'd done it to such an expensive piece of electronics, but her Dad had simply laughed. 'That's our little Rachel,' he told his husband fondly, his arm around the shorter man.

Shaking her head to clear it of the memories, Rachel picked the jogging playlist from her iPod and slipped the player into her armband. Stretching, she cranked the volume up and began softly singing the words as she started to jog around the pitch.

"And then I told her to kiss my- Q, are you even listening?" The blonde cheerleader whippped her head around guiltily and looked at her latina friend.

"Sorry, S. I was just thinking," Quinn said with an apologetic smile.

"Yeah, about the dwarf you met today. It's all you've been thinking about. Like, seriously."

Quinn shot her friend a look, "Are you kidding? I've barely had time to think today. What with Sylvester pulling me out of class for a meeting, then Mister Schue. And then trying to think of the setlist for Sectionals, and keeping the Cheerios in line.. this is ridiculous. I should be getting paid for this."

"Yeah, well, you know if you ever want to hand over the HBIC title, I'm totally here," Santana said with a smirk. "You know I'd totally rock it."

"Be careful what you wish for," Quinn shot back "but, really. I have to go, sorry S."

"Yeah, yeah," Santana said with a smirk "I have to go find B anyway. I'm supposed to meet her in the Cheerios locker room so I can give her a ride home. See you tomorrow, Q."

Quinn smiled as her friend walked away. Talking to Santana was always like getting a breath of fresh air.. except for when it was like getting a hard dose of reality. But her latina friend always tried to 'keep it real'- her words, not Quinn's- and you had to appreciate that.

Shaking her head, the blonde Cheerio made her way out to the field where she saw the brunette she had met that morning, and seen briefly between classes, running laps of the field. Spotting the bag at the bottom of the bleachers, Quinn made her way over to it and sat down pulling out a book and settling in to read while she waited for Rachel to finish running.

After several minutes, a shadow fell across her book and Quinn looked up to see Rachel standing in front of her, panting softly.

"I never figured you for someone who would run in their spare time," Quinn said, cocking her head at the brunette. Rachel looked at her with a slight frown before her lips formed an 'o' and she pulled out her iPod, switching it off.

"Pardon?" she asked, sitting down heavily next to Quinn and pulling out her water bottle, which Quinn was amused to note was pink, and had a large gold star emblazoned on the side.

"I said, I never figured you for someone who would run in their spare time," the blonde repeated with a smile.

"Oh yeah, well," Rachel shrugged. "When you grow up with gay dads, you learn to be tough.. and run fast." She looked at Quinn, waiting to see the blonde's reaction.

"Huh," Quinn said, "did you guys just move onto Leland Ave?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" Rachel asked with a frown, watching Quinn suspiciously.

"My mom's in Real Estate.. sometimes. When she's not too drunk to take any listings. When she sells a place, we hear about it for a while," Quinn said with a wry smile. "I think I went with her to see the house. It was really nice. You guys like it?"

Rachel blinked, totally confounded by the blonde's reaction. She hadn't expected Quinn to react the way she had. She'd seen the cross around the Cheerios neck, overheard that she was the President of the Celibacy Club. "Um, yes. It's really nice. And big. Bigger than our old house," she managed to get out, still looking at the cheerleader in shock.

"What, do I have something on my face?" Quinn asked, a small smile on her face "or have I sprouted another head?"

"I just.. wasn't expecting that reaction," the brunette answered honestly "most people aren't exactly kind when I mention my dads. In fact, their responses usually tend to lean toward the violent."

Quinn shrugged. "You'll probably still find a lot of that here. I wish I could say that we were a nice, tolerant school, that it was different here at McKinley than it is at other places, but in all honesty it's not. For the most part. In fact, I could count the students who are tolerant and accepting right now. There's eleven of them, and they're all in Glee club." The blonde blushed when she realized that Rachel was looking at her with a intensely thoughtful stare. "Anyway,' she said, looking at the ground, "did you want me to give you that tour now? There's not much to see, but it's what we've got."

"Sure," Rachel said with a small smile, still not looking away from the blonde. "Lay on, Macduff!"

"Did you just quote _Macbeth _at me?" Quinn asked amused, "I'm starting to think there's more to you than meets the eye, Rachel Berry." The blonde cheerleader picked up her bag and started walking back towards the school, turning and looking at Rachel who was still collecting her bag.

"You have no idea," Rachel said quietly to herself as she picked up her bag and followed the blonde cheerleader, "no idea at all."


	3. Chapter 3

**AN. I tried to make this chapter somewhat longer, though I have to admit that long chapters aren't exactly my forte. It's hard to write when you have nobody that shares your passion for what you're writing about :'(**

**Also, I have a wee bit of Quinn's perspective in here. Yay!**

Rachel sighed as she put her house key into the lock and twisted. The door swung open, and all she could see in the foyer were boxes. Looking up the hallway, boxes. Leading into the living room, more boxes. Shutting the door behind her, she manouvered around all the boxes to get to the answering machine. The light on it blinked at her, and she played back the recording.

'_Hey, honey, it's Dad. I won't be home until late, emergency at the hospital. You tell Daddy that he's not allowed to cook for you, make sure you get takeout. The kitchen is still new, we don't need to replace it yet! Love you.'_

A small smile flitted over the brunette's face, and she pressed the playback to hear the next message.

_'Rachel-Bear, it's Daddy. The bossman called an emergency meeting, so I don't know what time I'll be home. You make sure your Dad cooks you something nutritious for dinner! I don't want you spoiling yourself on takeaways! Love you.'_

The smile was wiped off her face when Rachel realized that she was going to be left on her own that night. Her first day at school, too. She wouldn't be able to tell her fathers about the Spanish teacher, Mr. Schuester who was overly friendly to the point where it creeped her out, or the tall blonde teacher she saw literally _throwing_ students down the hallway, or the doe-eyed guidance counsellor, or Figgins, who was possibly the _worst_ principal in the world.

Of course, that meant that she also didn't have to tell them about the slushie, or the students who jeered and laughed, called her names in the hallway just because she was the new kid.

Or the gorgeous blonde cheerleader with the hazel eyes who had somehow made her day better. Rachel sighed, and slowly climbed the stairs to her room. That would be something she'd have to ponder later, because her shower was calling to her and after the workout she'd got that afternoon, she really needed to get clean. Also, it had great accoustics.

Throwing her bag in the general direction of her bed, Rachel reached for her towel and resisted the urge to rush over and pick up the bag and place it neatly at the end of her bed- if she did that, then she wouldn't be able to resist re-ordering her wardrobe by color and fabric, re-shelving her books alphabetically by author. She needed to keep holding down the compulsive part of herself if she wanted to succeed in re-inventing herself. So she stripped down in the middle of her bedroom and left her clothes in a trail to the bathroom. Stepping into the shower, Rachel cranked the heat up and stood in the scalding water, letting the day wash down the drain. When she'd had enough of standing in the water, she washed her hair quickly and got out of the shower. Showers for washing were boring- showers for basking were amazing.

Pulling her hair up into a messy ponytail, she sat at her desk and switched her laptop on. After aimlessly surfing youtube for half an hour, she logged into her IM client. She hunted around her floor for the pair of jeans she had been wearing that day and reached into the back pocket. On a crumpled piece of paper, the cheerleader's cellphone number and email address. When inputting the comment for the friends request, she took pause. After adding and deleting the message several times, she simply put 'Rachel :)' and sent it.

Stretching, she stood and grabbed a book off her desk. Flopping down on her bed, she pulled the bookmark out and opened her book. Rachel started to read and got entrenchred in her book when she heard the chimes from her IM program. She ignored them the first time, but then the chimes went again, and again and finally Rachel stood to see who was messaging her so incessantly.

**QFab: **Rachel?

**QFab: **Raaaachel?

**QFab:** Raaaaaaaaacheeeel?

**QFab: **'Kay, I'm sorry I'm really bored. I finished all my homework like an hour ago and now I'm just sitting here and bothering you.

**GoldStarBerry: **Hey Quinn. Sorry, I was reading a book

**QFab: **anything good?

**GoldStarBerry: **I'm not sure. Daddy always tells me to give it fifty pages before making a decision. I'm trying to stick with it, but this is... really bad. I'm only reading it because I bet Daddy that I could without giving up, but to be honest I believe I'll be making dinner for a week straight because this is undoubtedly the worst book ever written

**QFab: **.. I think you just wrote your own novel there, Rach..

**GoldStarBerry: **I have nothing to say to that!

**GoldStarBerry: **But really, this book is terrible. I can't even tell you the name for fear you might read it and hate me forever.

**QFab: **lol, okay. So how was your first day at WMHS? I know we touched on it after school but I think I might have got a little bit crazy with the showing you every little detail...

**GoldStarBerry: **I had fun c:

**QFab: **That's good, I was worried that I had bored you. What's your first class tomorrow?

**GoldStarBerry: **Spanish with the creepy teacher with curly hair.. what's his name again? Shoes? Boots?

**QFab: **Schuester?

**GoldStarBerry:** yeah, him. He creeped me out.. a lot

**QFab: **Mr. Schue is cool. He's our Glee teacher. Hey, did I tell you about Glee?

**GoldStarBerry:** Yeah, haha, a couple of times..

**QFab: **Oh, haha. I really like it.. we all really like it. You should think about joining. I mean, there's an audition but it's basically an 'everyone who auditions gets in' deal.

**GoldStarBerry: **I'll think about it C: now, I have to go.. both my fathers bailed on me for dinner tonight, so I need to go rustle up some food. I'll see you at school tomorrow, Quinn.

**QFab: **Night, Berry. See you at your locker, first period?

**GoldStarBerry: **wait.. I don't even know where my locker is, how do you?

**QFab: **I have my sources. See ya Rach.

Quinn smiled at her screen as she logged off her IM client. Stretching, she looked at the time. It was only six at night, so she had twelve more hours before she had to get up for school. Twelve more hours and she'd run out of homework to do, talking to Rachel had been a nice distraction for all of ten minutes and she happened to know that Brittany and Santana were occupied for the rest of the night. She could call Finn, but she didn't really want to talk to him anyway. Just because she was dating him, didn't mean she had to like him. Quinn snorted, that was mean, even for her. Finn was a nice guy, a _really_ nice guy. And he was dating her even though he knew there was no real feeling in their relationship. They didn't even have the epic case of bromance that Quinn had with Puck, they were just friends. She was lucky he hadn't found someone else he liked. They had an unspoken agreement- as soon as Finn was interested in someone else, their sham of a relationship would be over.

Quinn huffed, blowing a strand of blonde hair out of her face. It wasn't like she'd ever find someone she was interested in at their school. She'd looked once, twice, left, right, up and down. There was nobody at the school that suited her. Well, she'd looked at a couple of people, but she always found reasons to not try and pursue them. Too geeky, not geeky enough, too fit, too unfit, already taken.. she wasn't trying to deny it, she was picky. She just didn't think that there was anyone at McKinley who was right for her.

With a sigh, the blonde flopped down onto her bed. Highschool was so much more trouble than it was worth. It wasn't like most of them were going to get out of the state. In fact, there were probably only a handful of her graduating class that wouldn't stay in Lima. Quinn buried her face in her pillow and groaned. Now was NOT the time to be thinking about that. Think happy thoughts, Quinn, happy thoughts. She turned her head to the side and closed her eyes. She wriggled out of her Cheerio's skirt barely moving and kicked it off the bed. Then she wriggled out of the shirt with expert grace and tossed it onto the bloor. With a quick flick of her wrist, the light was out and she was laying in darkness.

The blonde yawned and snuggled down onto her blankets. It was still warm enough that she didn't have to get under them just yet, she was perfectly comfortable as she was.

Her last thoughts before she dropped off to sleep were of the transfer student, who she just couldn't get out of her mind. Maybe there was someone at McKinley who was right for her, after all.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Okay, so there are a couple of things in this chapter that are AU- Quinn wasn't pregnant, it was just a rumor. Also, this is Junior year (in this canon they're all the same year, it makes things much easier.) so while technically Season 2ish according to the show, it's AU, so it'll all be all over the place.**

Quinn woke up in the same position she had gone to sleep in, her mouth slightly open and the pillow next her mouth slightly damp. A quick glance at her clock told her it was fifteen minutes before her alarm was due to go off. With a groan, she turned her clock off and dragged herself out of bed and into her bathroom. Being the golden child certainly had its perks, she'd had her own ensuite since she was fourteen. All her friends had been so jealous, and she'd milked it for all it was worth, having weekend long sleepovers where they didn't even have to leave her room for anything other than food. Those had been some of the best weekends of her life. Then high school had set in and sleepovers with friends had been replaced with sleepovers with boyfriends and late nights watching movies and talking had been replaceed with getting wasted and making out with people you barely knew.

Pulling off her panties and sports bra, Quinn stepped into the shower and turned the water on. She lept back against the wall for a second as the cold spray blasted her and she grumbled in her throat at the fact that she'd forgotten to warm the water up before she got in. When the water was more temperate she stepped into it more fully and lathered up with her favorite cherry body scrub. She sighed in happiness as the cherry scent filled her nostrils, cherry was the most delicious scent in the world.. besides bacon. She'd evaluated this, of course. Conducted extensive studies into which scent was truly superior. She had yet to come to a decision.

Mm, maybe she'd have bacon for breakfast.. she'd be breaking one of Coach Sylvester's diet rules but really, bacon was so worth it. Quinn laughed to herself as she stepped out of the shower and wrapped her body with a towel. Her bacon obsession was pretty extreme, but it was better than drugs or alcohol. Or at least, that was how she justified it to herself when she'd sneak down into the kitchen in the middle of the night and fry herself up some bacon... which was really weird when she thought about it, so she tried not to.

Slipping into her Cheerios uniform, Quinn pulled her hair back into a ponytail and applied her mascara carefully. She made a pouty face at the mirror and rolled her eyes. She'd managed to kill an hour with her leisurely shower, so it was nearly seven o'clock. She had enough time to go downstairs and have a small breakfast before leaving for school. She had decided against bacon- Sue was like a rabid pitbull and a beagle in one. She'd smell the bacon on her breath and then maul her. Quinn didn't want to take that risk.

Quinn unplugged her phone from its charger and checked her messages. She had a couple of texts from Santana- they had a tradition of quoting to each other movie quotes, it was a game with each trying to outdo the other. They both had their strengths, but Quinn was anhillating Santana so far. She'd had so much free time over the summer that all she'd done was watch movies.

_'Swan ate my baaaaby!'_

_'You just had to get your shirt off.'_

'_Come on Q! You can't leave me hanging like this, text me your answers ASAP!'_

Quinn grinned and sent Santana a quick message.

_'Drop Dead Gorgeous & Galaxy Quest. Come on S, we've seen those movies like a hundred times. Meet me before school? I want to intro you to the new girl. Gonna try get her to join Glee. Lockers outside Sneddon's science class.'_

Scrolling down, she saw that she had a message from Mercedes. She grinned, she genuinely liked the diva, they'd made fast friends the previous year in Glee when Quinn had briefly been ejected from the Cheerios- and her parents house over a pregnancy rumor that had blown right up.

_'hey grrrl. Got a gr8 idea for glee 2day! Meet b4 class to discuss?'_

Quinn sent back a quick text with a smile, it seemed that Kurt's insistence that everyone should text in correct form hadn't made a dent in Mercedes' text lingo.

_'Hey, girl! Yeah, we can meet up sometime, but I have plans before school. Maybe first break?'_

As she rushed down the stairs Quinn scrolled to the last message. It was from a number that she didn't recognize.

_'Hello, Quinn. I realized when I woke up that I still don't know where my locker is, since you didn't tell me last night. Would you be adverse to meeting where we met yesterday? Let me know when you get this message. Rachel.'_

The Cheerio had to repress a snort at the perfectly worded message from the shorter brunette.

_'Sure, that would be great. I'll see you at school.'_

With a grin, Quinn slipped her phone into her backpack and grabbed a bottle of Vitamin Water out of the fridge and popped a piece of bread in the toaster. It popped back up and Quinn didn't bother with any kind of spread, she pulled it out of the toaster, alternating blowing on it and her fingers and her toast. Picking up her bag from where it lay by the door, she yelled a quick goodbye to her mother and went out to her car.

Her car was her baby. She'd originally wanted something a little less.. red, but her parents had insisted that red was the perfect color for the Head Cheerio. She'd practically lived in her car when she'd been rendered temporarily homeless, and she had some fond memories of driving around Lima with no real purpose.

The drive to school was quiet, with Quinn forgoing her usual music blasting morning wake-up routine in favor of driving with the windows down listening to the sounds of early morning Lima. Even though it was Nowhere, Hicksville she still had moments where she loved her town. The fact that you knew personally, or at least recognized by sight almost everyone you saw every day was amazing. She'd gone to middle school with most of the people in her high school, so she'd known them for years and years. She'd met Santana and Brittany on their third day of kindergarten- which they always celebrated as the third day of a new school year so Brittany would have an easier time remembering it- and they'd been fast friends ever since.

Quinn cracked a smile at the thought of her friends. Brittany and Santana were so meant for each other. It had been obvious to all three of them as soon as they had met. They'd played wedding, with the other two as bride and bride and Quinn had always got to be the bridesmaid. It was just how they were. When her parents had found out about Brittany and Santana's relationship, they had tried to force Quinn not to be friends with the duo but Quinn hadn't listened. They were the Unholy Trinity, as most of McKinley put it. They weren't to be messed with. They'd been riding on a wave of popularity since middle school, and the ride looked like it had no end in sight. Once the previous year, a foolish Sophmore had given the three girls a slushie facial in the first week of school. Michelle Barker. Her name was still whispered around the school halls as a warning. 'You don't want to end up like that Michelle Barker girl, her parents had to transfer her after she messed with those three.'

The blonde supposed she should be ashamed of their reputation, but it wasn't like she hadn't put it to good use.. the members of the Glee club last year had been bullied mercilessly. When Quinn had joined- (admittedly to spy for Coach Sylvester, who had this really bizarre vendetta against Mr Schue) and then been made the Captain of New Directions, she'd made sure that nobody touched the Glee kids. There were, unfortunately a couple of football players who thought they were exceptions to the rule, and Quinn was still trying to figure out how to get them to back off, but other than that, the Gleeks were golden.

With a small grin, the Cheerio locked her car and shouldered her bag as she started to walk towards the main school building. She allowed herself one deep breath before she pused the heavy red doors open into mayhem.

The football players had obviously tried their luck with Rachel Berry again and had tossed another slushy in her face. What Quinn saw when she opened the doors was David Karofsky with a hand clamped over his nose, blood between his fingers and Azimo holding him back, and Rachel being held back by two Cheerios- Santana and Brittany. Karofsy managed to break free from Azimo and was feet away from Rachel when Quinn's HBIC kicked in.

"HEY." All movement stilled, and heads whipped around to face her. Santana gave her a sly grin before motioning to Brittany who set Rachel down gently, patting her on the head and whispering something into her ear. The brunette gave the tall blonde a small smile before her attention returned to Quinn. "Karofsky, go to the nurse. You're dripping blood on the floor." Quinn raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow at the hulking boy, and he simply sneered at her before spitting on the floor near Rachel's feet and wiping his nose on his jacket.

"Let's go, Zee," he growled, his eyes not leaving the tiny brunette "This isn't over, freak." The boys shoved their way through the crowd of students that had gathered and disappeared in the direction of the nurses office. Brittany and Santana had already started shooing off the people, so Quinn went straight to the brunette and pulled a towel out of her gym bag.

"Way to start your second day with a bam, pow!" she offered the towel to Rachel, who took it with a small smile.

"At least I had the foresight to wear my hair up today. I shouldn't have to wash it so thoroughly. I even remembered to pack a second set of clothes, although I was hoping that I wouldn't have to resort to wearing them.." Rachel trailed off with an odd look on her face and smiled shyly up at Quinn. "Thank you for the towel," she wiped the remainder of the slush off her face. "I can wash it tonight and give it back to you tomorrow."

"It's no big," Quinn shrugged. "It's a Cheerio's towel, so I'll just put it in the laundry cart with the rest of the towels.'

"Well," the brunette hummed still clutching the towel, "thanks anyway."

"So." A loud voice broke their quiet bubble of conversation and Rachel and Quinn looked up sharply. "This is the girl you were telling us about yesterday."

Quinn nodded with a small smile, "Yeah. Rachel, this is Brittany and Santana. Guys, this is Rachel."

The tall blonde bounded right up to Rachel and lifted her up in a bone-crushing hug. "I've wanted to do that since you punched Karofsky in the face, but I didn't know you then so it would be weird. We're not strangers anymore so it's okay now!" Quinn gave Brittany a fond smile as the girl let Rachel go and engulfed Quinn in a hug as well. "Hey, Q!"

"Hey B," Quinn said with a grin, smoothing down the taller girls' ponytail. "You ready steady for class today?"

"Yup!" the excited girl replied, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Are you ready steady, San?"

The latina looked mildly embarrassed but answered the question with, "yep, are you ready steady, Q?'

"Ready as I'll ever be," the blonde said with a grin at the dark haired girl. "Now, we need to get Rachel to the bathrooms so she can clean up before class and I can show her to her locker."

Brittany nodded and grabbed Rachel by the arm, tugging her along as she skipped ahead. Santana and Quinn were left behind watching the two girls cut a path through the students as they all eagerly tried to get out of the way of the sweetest girl at McKinley High and the girl who punched Karofsky in the face on her first day (later it would become legend that Rachel Berry had walked into school on her first day and simply walked over to Karofsky and punched him in the face as karmic retribution for all he'd done to the other kids of the school, but that was neither here nor there.)

The cheerleaders followed the unlikely duo, their arms linking easily and their heads falling together to whisper to each other. "I think B's just found a new best friend," Quinn teased Santana with a gentle bump of the shoulder. Santana just rolled her eyes at the blonde and flipped her off.

–

Rachel stared into the mirror forlornly as she tried to wipe the slush off her face. Brittany was sitting on the sinks kicking her legs back and forth, watching the petite brunette as she toiled to clean herself.

"Why'd you change?"

The question was so out of left field that Rachel dropped the handtowel she was using into the sink. "I'm not sure what you're talking about, Brittany," she said carefully, her cheeks pinkening.

"Duh, you're Rachel Berry. You're like, the singer from the theater group Rachel Berry. I used to dance with the group until coach made me quit last year. So, why did you change? You never used to dress like this," the blonde gestured at the brunette's choice of clothing.

"I, uh," Rachel was frozen. She'd tried so hard to make sure that nobody at McKinley would know who she was, or how she had used to be. She'd never thought to check out her old theater group, she'd just assumed that the kids there were all so close they were from the same school- and now there was a fatal flaw in her plan. Brittany. Just as Rachel was preparing to run out of the bathroom, the school and the state- because that was how far she assumed she had to run before she could escape _Rachel fucking Berry_, the tall blonde smiled at her and resumed her leg kicking.

"Don't worry, Rach. I won't tell anyone. And you don't have to tell me if you don't want. If I could go to another school where nobody knew me, I'd totally pretend to not be stupid," she shrugged "I get it."

"You're not stupid Brittany," Rachel said, turning to face the Cheerio more fully. "Anyone who ever told you that was just trying to upset you."

Brittany shrugged, but Rachel could see that her words had made the cheerleader happy, as the taller girl tried to fight back a smile Rachel hid one of her own and ducked into a stall to change her shirt.

"I must confess, I wasn't really planning on being slushied today," Rachel sighed, pulling on her hot pink hoodie. So all I have under my jumper is a tank top. I hope it doesn't get cold this afternoon.." she stepped out of the cubicle and smoothed her hair down, starting slightly as the other cheerleaders walked into the bathroom.

"That didn't take long," Quinn remarked as she looked at Rachel's new attire.

"It mostly landed on my shirt," the brunette shrugged, "so I just needed to change that and wipe it off. No big deal. Cherry, though. Ew." she winked at Quinn who laughed, making Santana and Brittany give them curious looks.

"I think the slush has got to your brain, Berry. Cherry is still the best flavor."

"I like lime." Brittany said as she hopped off the bench smoothly and went to link her pinky with Santana's. "It's green, which makes it better than the rest."

Rachel watched as the other two girls gave the tall blonde a fond smile, "I think she got you beat, Q." Santana said as Brittany swung their linked hands.

"When doesn't she," Quinn said with a grin as they left the bathrooms. "What's you first class?" she asked Rachel, as they walked down the halls with people scrambling to get out of their way. It was a new experience for the tiny diva, so she stumbled a bit before replying,

"Spanish with Mr. Schuester," she said after fumbling around on her pockets for her day planner.

"Awesome, we're all in that class too. We'll go to your locker after first, we've kinda run out of time now, what with the slushie detour."

Rachel laughed, "Yes, that did throw a spanner in the works, somewhat."

"Don't be too surprised if he asks you to join Glee," the blonde said as she directed Rachel into the classroom. "He's very.. passionate about Glee Club."

"I'll prepare myself for it," Rachel said with a grin at the blonde girl. As they were talking, Mr. Schue walked into the room to begin the lesson, and Rachel found herself smiling as she pulled out her notebook to take notes. This having a friend thing? It was weird. But it was exactly what she had been missing.

**AN: Hooray for the longest chapter I've done! I'd really love to hear what you guys think about the story so far. I know there are a substantial number of you who are following this, and for that I thank you immensely, but I'd really love to get some personal feedback about why you like this sort- or why you hate it. **

**Thank you so much for reading! **


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